Pages of Note

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Post Office

I've been going through my posts and "drafting" anything that references CNN. "Breaking News" media is pure poison to me and I've said enough about it to fill a book. It's pure manipulation. But contradicting or criticizing media outlets is basically using poisonous source material as a topic for what I want to be an antidote. But it isn't an antidote, it's more poison. It's derivative poison, so bit by bit I'm going to return those posts to drafts that are no longer published. High profile criminal trials are THE WORST. If you see something I missed then please forward me the link and I'll take it off.

This raises a problem when a topic that has legitimate relevance is reported on by CNN. Can I comment on that? I think so.
For instance, CNN reported on the resources supplied by Africa for our high consumption lives, pure colonial exploitation on a gigantic scale. It makes the Dutch slave trade look laughably small...BUT WE ALL GET iPHONES AND THAT IS WHAT IS IMPORTANT. You wouldn't have read that article because you're too busy consuming ignorantly and the blissfulness of your ignorance would be dirtied by truth so KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND AND GO BACK TO SLEEP. However, I feel that this was something I've researched independently in the past and CNN only put their spin and graphics on it. So I permit myself to comment.

Another topic is the Post Office ultimately stopping door to door service because it's too costly. Basically, the post office is insolvent and to cut costs they're going to reduce the time mailmen spend walking around the hood. I can see their point since sprawl and dogs and long gated neighborhoods means a crazy distance of walking. My mobile home park had one cluster of boxes. Everyone went to get their mail. The mailman didn't walk to each individual mobile home. That would take hours in 110 heat and he could finish in 20 minutes at the cluster by the pool. And since every resident passed the cluster of boxes every day they were not really inconvenienced by stopping and getting their disability check.
Obviously, it's impractical for one person to walk hundreds of miles to save thousands of people the delay of a minute to pick their own mail up. Like they say, today's policy of door to door service would never be approved of if it was proposed today.

But, wait, we live in a land of 400 million people. You're telling me, that automating the mail, (where this is all headed) and firing all the mailmen, is preferable to expecting some welfare check beneficiaries, about 30,000,000 people, to deliver mail...even junk mail? Really? There is no alternative? We agree that the problem is not available man power. Right? It's the cost of well paid postmen basically being paid to walk. So, we've got a population closing in on 50% obesity, a job that requires regular exercise...30 million on welfare. Gee, I must be SOME KIND OF FUCKING GENIUS IF I SEE A SOLUTION.

But then I come back to reality. No, we will keep fat welfare folk inside on their couches, automate the mail, fire the mailmen, pick our mail up at the cluster box, etc etc, let our tax dollars be spent paying doctors to tell fat people to get exercise. That makes sense. Let's do everything possible so that only immigrant Honduran fruit pickers break a sweat. Because it would be a breach of civil liberties to expect someone to deliver junk mail to earn their food stamps. What an asshole I am.